Can-body-forming machine



July 30, 1929, w. CAMERON 1,722,556

CAN BODY FORMING MACHINE Filed Oct. 14, 1925 Patented July 30, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CAMERON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGHOB EI IO. CAMERON CAN MACHINERYCOMPANY OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

cAN-BonY-ronmamcmnn Application filed October 14, 1925. Serial No.62,425.

This invention relates generally to machines for forming can bodies andpertains more particularly to a mechanism for necking in said bodies. v

' Those can bodies which are designed to re-' eeive a removable slipcover at one end are preferably necked in or reduced in diameter at theend which receives the cover substantially the thickness of the tinplate from which the body and cover are formed, so that the flange ofthe cover will lie flush with the exterior surface of the body therebypresenting a smooth surface for the reception of a label or other papercovering which customarily surrounds the can.

It has heretofore been customary to pcr form the necking in operation bymeans of internal expanding dies cooperating with external contractingdies which together reduce the diameter of one end of the can, or inother words, accomplish the necking in.

Prior to my invention the use of internal expanding dies has beenconsidered essential for two reasons; first, because it was custo-r 25mary to neck in the rear rather than the forward end of the body and itwas necessary to reduce the size of the internal die 'after the neeldngin operation, in order that the necked in end of reduced diameter mightbe slid over the die and discharged,-and second; because it was notconsidered possible to do a smooth necking in job and produce anunerinkled necked in body unless the necking in operation were startedwith the inner die in contact with the inner perimeter of the bodywhereby the metal of the body would be held between the internal andexternal dies and prevented from crinkling while the necking inoperation was being performed.

I have discovered,- however, that the necking in operation can besatisfactorily per-l formed on a solid non-expansible mandrel which isnot only much cheaper to manufacture but is also more durable in use andfurbe "performed not only satisfactorily but in 2. vealsuperior manner.

' er obj ects and many advantages of my invention should be readilyappreciated, as:

the same becomes better understood, by referlivery end of this horn isattached m novel Fig. 3.

thermore,by my invention, the necln'ng in can the housing broken away toshow the under lying parts, of a necking in mechanism em bodying myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional new on the line2-2 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 isanenlarged vertical sectional view through the mandrel and a portion ofthe dies and alsoshowing feeding mechanism.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, reference character 5indicates a base adapted to be mounted upon a bracket at the rear end ofacan body forming machine and upon the base is supported a housing 6within which the external necking in dies are mounted. A

portion of the horn 10 which extends longitudmally' of the can body.forming machine and upon which the can bodies are formed, is I shown inFigs. 2 and 3 and to the rear or denecking in mandrel, the details ofWlllCh will, be later described. 7

The housing 6 which is disposed in alignment with the neckin in die isprovided internally with a plurality of radially disposed webs 7 forminga series of guide-ways, preferably four in number, in each of which adie carrier 8 is adapted to reciprocate. Each die carrier 8 is equippedat its inner end with a die 9 secured to the carrier by a bolt 11, theinner or operable-portions of the dies being shaped to conform to thecontour of the necking in mandrel. as will be apparent from Each die isnormally urged outwardly away fromthe mandrel by aspring 12 and is.forced inwardly into cooperative relation with the mandrel by a roller13 mounted upon an oscillatory ring 14 which is oscillated in the usualmanner through a reciprocatory link 15 to move the rollers along the camsurfaces 16 formed at the outer end of each die carrier so that all thedies are forced inward- Each spring 12 is compressed between the end ofa slot formed: in its die carrier and a made in one piece, I prefer, inorder that it may be adapted formaking necks of various lengths, to makeit win a. plurality of pieces. For instance, as shown in 2 and 3, itcomprises an inner piece or plate 19 of ly secured to the end of thehorn by bolts A can body is fed along the horn to the necking in stationbv any suitable feed mechanism and, when properly positioned, the dies 9are forced inwardly with sufiicient power to displace the metal of thecan body inwardly from its original plane, a distance substantiallyequal to the thickness of the tinplate to thereby form the inwardlyoffset neck 24. The cooperative action of the solid mandrel and theinwardly moving dies is suchthatthe neck is formed smoothly and withoutthe production of wrinkles in the tin and since the mandrel is of solidconstruction, it may be economically manufactured and its dur ability isalmost unlimited. Longer or shorter necks may be produced bysubstituting a thicker or thinner plate for the plate 21 shown in thedrawings. It is customarily desirable that can bodies of this t pe bealso slightly mouthed in at the necke in end in order to facilitate thepositionin of a cover thereon and where this is desirable, the dies maybe formed with a. slight inward projection to bend the edge of the bodyinwardly as indicated by reference character 25.

. nature.

advantages of my invention should be understood and appreciated from theforegoing without further description and it should be obvious that thevariations in the mechanical details disclosed may be resorted to withinwide limits without exceeding the Scope of the invention as defined inthe following claim.

Iclaim:

In a can body forming machine, the combination of a horn upon which canbodies are formed and along which said bodies are longitudinall mandrelorming anextension of said horn and comprising a plurality of solid flatsections of difl'erent diameters disposrd face to face and removablysecured to said horn so as to be replaceable by other sectionscorresponding to the sizes of different bodies to be necked, andexternal dies adapted to coinpress a can body around said mandrel toefl'ect the necking in operation.

In witness of the foregoing I v GALEERON.

fed in succession, a necking-in

